Neighborhood Cafe.
Gretna: 615 Kepler. 504-365-1225 . Map.
Lunch and dinner Monday-Saturday.
Casual.
AE DC DS MC V
WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
It seems strange to say that the best reason to come here is to get a load of the vintage sign outside. But it's so good that even though the food served inside this old roadhouse is also worth searching for the place (all West Bankers know about it, but it's only a legend to most East Bankers), the sign is what you'll remember. It depicts (in enamel by day, neon at night) a cartoon hare who looks like a blood relative of Bugs Bunny. Under the graphic is the legend "DA-WABBIT Drive-In."
WHY IT'S GOOD
This is a contemporary New Orleans neighborhood eatery. You expect to find the seafood platters, red beans on Monday, poor boy sandwiches, and fried chicken. What you don't expect is the handful of ambitious specials like blackened tuna and steak with crabmeat. All of this is beyond reproach. It comes out hot, garnished with sides to which someone has given more than routine attention, and seasoned the way it ought to be. That fried chicken is a major draw.
BACKSTORY
Kepler Street is the continuation of Fourth and Fifth Streets, all of which made up the major route through the suburban West Bank communities before the West Bank Expressway was built in the 1950s. Da Wabbit opened shop in 1949, and has been slinging hash ever since. For much of its more recent history, it was more than a little raffish, and was better known as a bar with card games in the back rooms than for its food. The current owners took over in the early 2000s, gave it a more respectable (but eminently forgettable) new name, performed a serious renovation to the interior, fixed the sign's neon, and reopened as a much better place to eat.
DINING ROOM
The floor plan is shaped like a keyhole, with the more pleasant tables--topped with brown butcher paper--in the circular part. The bar, which also has tables for dining, is the flat end of the keyhole. The interior shows few signs of the restaurant's actual age, and is as pleasant as any other good neighborhood cafe. Waitresses who wear "Cafe 615 Home Of Da Wabbit" T-shirts are like that lady who lives next door to you.
ESSENTIAL DISHES
Gumbo.
Turtle soup.
Fried eggplant sticks.
Fried calamari.
Poor boy sandwiches, especially those made with seafood.
Seafood platters.
Blackened tuna.
Blackened ribeye steak.
Fried chicken.
Barbecue chicken.
Daily specials.
Bread pudding.
FOR BEST RESULTS
Order one appetizer per two people. These are very large. Although you might get the idea that this is a place where only regulars are welcome, in fact it's among the friendliest neighborhood joints in town.
OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
They need to fix the neon on the west side of the sign. Or maybe not.
FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.
- Dining Environment
- Consistency +1
- Service +1
- Value +1
- Attitude +1
- Wine and Bar
- Hipness -1
- Local Color +2
SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES
- Good for business meetings
- Small private room
- Open Monday lunch and dinner
- Open all afternoon
- Historic
- Unusually large servings
- Quick, good meal
- Good for children
- Easy, nearby parking
- No reservations
ANECDOTES AND ANALYSIS
A bit before the storm, this old joint (and that's what it was) got a facelift and a new name--one that could only be understood in New Orleans. The menu and the waitresses' T-shirts say, "Cafe 615, Home of Da Wabbit." (Cf "Ruth's Chris," "Pascal's Manale."
The improvements at Da Wabbit (Cafe 615 seems all wrong for the place, and who can remember a number, anyway?) is another encouraging signs that, after two decades of slim pickings, the dining scene on the West Bank is getting better. It's a reliable restaurant with more good food than immediately meets the eye. It would be the Mandina's of the West Bank of Tony Mandina's were't already there. We all have to go to Gretna once in awhile, and it's good to find a delicious neighborhood Creole place to eat.
This review was updated with new information on 12/1/2009.
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